LB polls: Electioneering comes to unceremonious end

Apex court’s decision awaited on ECP’s petition.

RAWALPINDI:

Candidates have abruptly wound up their campaigns for the local government elections after the Election Commission requested the apex court to postpone the polls. The provincial government’s silence over the issue has only added to the uncertainty.

The provincial government’s silence has not only confused the opposition parties, the PML-N’s own candidates appear clueless. As many as 8,472 candidates have filed their nomination papers and as many had submitted them after an earlier announcement when the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench cancelled the new demarcation.

“The government should immediately remove the uncertainty as its irresponsible attitude will further complicate the situation,” said Jamaat-e-Islami District President Sajjad Abbasi. He claimed his party was ready for the election but they didn’t want to waste their resources campaigning for an election which had become a distant dream.



The opposition parties had challenged the delimitation, claiming that it had created an imbalance between voters in the newly-created union councils. The petitioners, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq and PTI leaders, claimed that voters’ numbers in some union councils were up to 20,000 while in others they were as few as 7,000. They also claimed the delimitation was carried out to benefit the ruling party and it had strengthened its position in the new union councils.

The Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench cancelled the delimitation, terming it unlawful. The district administration has reverted the previous number of union councils as another delimitation will take time.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of the Punjab assembly Ijaz Khan Jazi said it was evident that the PML-N government was not interested in the elections. “The PML-N doesn’t want to deprive its members in the provincial and national assemblies of public welfare funds.”

He said the court had to intervene twice, the first time it overturned the government’s decision to hold the elections on a non-partisan basis and second by cancelling the delimitation. “If the provincial government was serious, they should have carried out the delimitation according to the law.”

Candidates from opposition parties in the garrison city claimed they had finalised all the arrangements and were waiting for an announcement by the ECP. The opposition parties are waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision on the petition filed by the ECP.

“The PML-N is not ready which is why they are shying away from announcing a schedule,” claimed Sheikh Rasheed, chief of Awami Muslim League. He predicted if the elections were not held till March then they would never be held.

PML-N MNA Malik Abrar and District President Sardar Naseem could not be approached for comment despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2014.